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Gotham City
Gotham City is a major city in Connecticut. It is the home of Batman, Robin, Artemis and Black Bat. Origin of Name Writer Bill Finger, on the naming of the city and the reason for changing Batman's locale from New York City to a fictional city, said, "Originally I was going to call Gotham City 'Civic City.' Then I tried 'Capital City,' then 'Coast City.' Then I flipped through the New York City phone book and spotted the name 'Gotham Jewelers' and said, 'That's it,' Gotham City. We didn't call it New York because we wanted anybody in any city to identify with it." "Gotham" had long been a well-known nickname for New York City even prior to Batman's 1939 introduction, which explains why "Gotham Jewelers" and many other businesses in New York City have the word "Gotham" in them. The nickname became popular in the nineteenth century; Washington Irving had first attached it to New York in the November 11, 1807 edition of his Salmagundi, a periodical which lampooned New York culture and politics. Irving took the name from the village of Gotham, Nottinghamshire, England, a place inhabited, according to folklore, by fools. The village's name derives from Old English gāt 'goat' and hām 'home', literally "homestead where goats are kept", and is pronounced "goat 'em", /ˈɡoʊtəm/ goat-əm (c.f. Chatham, /ˈtʃætəm/ ''chat-əm'', a similar name where the letters th represent a "t" sound followed by a silent "h" rather than a "th" sound). The Joker references this etymology in Detective Comics #880, in which he tells Batman that the word means "a safe place for goats", In contrast, "Gotham" as used for New York has a different pronunciation by analogy to other words spelled with "th" and is pronounced as /ˈɡɒθəm/ ''goth-əm'', like the word Goth. Atmosphere In terms of atmosphere, Gotham City is Manhattan below Fourteenth Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November. Batman artist Neal Adams has long believed that Chicago, with its proliferation of mobsters in the 1940s, was the basis for Gotham, commenting, "Chicago has had a reputation for a certain kind of criminality," says Adams, who lives in New York. "Batman is in this kind of corrupt city and trying to turn it back into a better place. One of the things about Chicago is Chicago has alleys (which are virtually nonexistent in New York). Back alleys, that's where Batman fights all the bad guys."2 Frank Miller has said that "Metropolis is New York in the daytime; Gotham City is New York at night." Gotham City's atmosphere took on a lighter tone in the comics of the 1950s and part of the 1960s, similar to the tone of Batman stories of that era. However, by the early 1970s, particularly with Dennis O'Neil becoming a prominent Batman writer, the tone of the city, along with that of the stories, had become grittier. In most stories since the 70s, the portrayal of Gotham is that of a dark and foreboding metropolis rife with crime, grime, corruption, and a deep-seated sense of urban decay. This tone was particularly prominent in the parts of the city not rejuvenated post-"No Man's Land". During his run as a writer, Batman scribe Grant Morrison brought about a more optimistic interpretation of Gotham City. As Morrison stated: "If Gotham was so bloody awful, no one normal would live there and there'd be no one to protect from criminals. If Gotham really was an open sewer of crime and corruption, every story set there would serve to demonstrate the complete and utter failure of Batman's mission, which isn't really the message we want to send, is it? You've got Batman and all his allies as well as Commissioner Gordon and the city still exudes a vile miasma of darkness and death? I can't buy that. It's simply not realistic and flies in the face of in-story logic (and you know I like my comics realistic!) so my artists and I have taken a different tack and we want to show the cool, vibrant side of Gotham, the energy and excitement that would draw people to live and visit there." Architecture Different artists have depicted Gotham City in different ways. They often base their interpretations on various real architectural periods and styles with exaggerated characteristics, such as massively multi-tiered flying buttresses on Gothic cathedrals or the huge art deco and art nouveau. Police and corruption A common theme in stories set in Gotham is the rampant and recurring corruption within the city's civil authorities and infrastructure, most notably within the Gotham City Police Department. During stories set early in Batman's career (most notably Batman: Year One), Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb was depicted as having his hands in many pockets. However, Batman found evidence for conspiracy charges, forcing Loeb to resign his position. Later stories depicted subsequent commissioners as also being corruptible, or open to various forms of influence. In other stories, Batman has had to take on crooked cops, either acting in collusion with supervillains, working for the mob, or on their own. Later stories, featuring James Gordon as the new Commissioner, show the two characters often uniting to purge corruption from the force. Gotham Underground Unified Crime Family * Black Mask - During the events of "Batman: War Games", Black Mask gains control over all gangs in Gotham City. He works with The Society to kill Batman. He is eventually killed by Catwoman and a power vacuum leads to a series of gang wars. Recently a new Black Mask has returned in an effort to reunify the Gotham gangs. * Great White - Warren "The Great White Shark" White becomes the successor to Black Mask's crime empire, successfully running all crime in Gotham from inside Arkham Asylum. During Intergang's bid for power, Great White is beaten and hidden behind a door in Blackgate prison in order to keep him out of the way. After freeing Arkham's inmates the new Black Mask takes control over Warren and his men. Crime Families * Falcone Crime Family (Italian) - Run by Carmine "The Roman" Falcone, who maintained a stranglehold over all of Gotham City's crime before the rise of 'masks.' He is murdered by Two-Face and his daughter, Sofia Gigante takes control, however upon her death and the murder of many other family members, the family loses its grasp over the city. * Galante Crime Family (Italian) - Control the East side of Gotham. Taken over by Tobias Whale. * Maroni Crime Family (Italian) - Headed by Luigi "Big Lou" Maroni until his death where his son Sal Maroni takes control of the family. He is responsible for scarring Harvey Dent and is eventually murdered while in prison. * Odessa Crime Family (Ukrainian) - Arms dealers taken over by Tobias Whale. * Riley Crime Family (Irish) - Run by Peyton Riley's father Sean Riley until his death. It is implied Johnny Sabatino kills him. * Sabatino Crime Family (Italian) - The first crime family of Gotham. Johnny Sabatino was married off to Peyton Riley as a sign of peace between the Irish and Italian mobs. Their marriage was loveless and he tries to kill her. Peyton returns with Scarface and tries to kill Johnny and they both fall into the water after a struggle and disappear. * Dimitrov Crime Family (Russian) - Run by Yuri Dimitrov (The Russian) who happens to always be at war with the Maroni Crime Family. * Gangs ** Ghost Dragons (Chinese) - Run by King Snake. Lynx was assigned as their field leader and eventually killed King Snake to gain control over the gang. Lynx was accidentally beheaded by one of her own gang members. ** Golden Dragons - Gotham branch of the Hong Kong-based gang. Their leader is the new Lynx. ** Intergang - Led by Bruno Mannheim, Intergang employs Johnny Stitches to take control over the Gotham City underworld. They successfully take down Penguin's gang and buy out Tobias Whale to gain full control. ** Penguin's Gang - Run through the Penguin's Iceberg Lounge. The Penguin was once the premier gang power in Gotham. Ousted by Intergang but was restored by Batman. He is currently fighting for dominance over Two-Face's gang. ** The Sprang Bridge Soldiers - Control Robbinsville, almost taken over by Jason Todd. ** The Blackgaters - Briefly taken over by Jason Todd in an attempt to unite the gangs against the Underground. ** Hanoi Ten (Vietnamese) - Rivals of the Golden Dragons ** Batboys ** Five Fingers ** Sirens ** Blue Flu Gang ** The Burnley Town Massive Notable locations * Arkham Asylum: 'the primary but involuntary residence of many of Batman's foes. Dennis O'Neil named Arkham Asylum as an homage to the works of H. P. Lovecraft. For years, artists have rendered it predominantly as an old and sometimes crumbling structure, but at times some artists have depicted it as a more modern facility (notably, the storyline ''The Last Arkham involved Jeremiah Arkham tearing down the old asylum and replacing it with a modern structure more akin to a supermax prison). Its exterior and interior appearances often change to match the moods and needs of the creative team. In some stories, the rooms have the stereotypical white padded walls of a mental hospital, in others the brick or stone cells of an old-fashioned asylum, and in still others the glass and steel private rooms of a modern hospital. The suggestion often made is that its history in the city reaches back to the early part of the 20th century, and that its manager is always a member of the Arkham family. Its current manager is Jeremiah Arkham, the nephew of founder Amadeus Arkham. Perhaps the most notable trait of Arkham is that many writers have placed a seeming revolving door on it, whereby Batman's villains either escape or are freed very shortly after being admitted, allowing writers to use them without complications. Characters often comment on this situation, either comically or seriously remarking on the need for better security and care at Arkham. * '''Bichel Co. * Gotham Academy * Gotham Cemetery * Gotham City Observatory * Gotham Heights ** Artemis & Paula Crock's Apartment ** Gotham North High * Wayne Foundation * Wayne Manor ** Batcave Residents * Alan Scott * Alfred Pennyworth * [[Artemis|'Artemis']]' (Artemis Crock)' * [[Black Bat|'Black Bat']]' (Cassandra Cain)' * [[Batman|'Batman']]' (Bruce Wayne)' * Bette Kane * Cheshire (Jade Nguyen) * Hamilton Hill * James Gordon * [[Joker|'Joker']] * Lucius Fox * Lawrence Crock (formerly) * Mister Freeze * Paula Crock * Riddler * [[Robin|'Robin']]' (Dick Grayson)' * Zucco Category:Locations